WASHINGTON -
The Georgetown track & field team made their second trip to State College, Pa., this season as they competed on the first day of the nationally-renowned Penn State National Invitational today. The Hoyas started the meet strong on the first of the two-day meet.

The women's distance medley relay (DMR) hosted an invitational field of five teams including Stanford, Dartmouth, Villanova, Duke and the Hoyas. The foursome featured Sabrina Southerland (New York, N.Y./Benjamin N. Cardozo) on the opening 1,200 meters, Emma Keenan (Gwynedd Valley, Pa./Gwynedd-Mercy Academy) running the 400, All-American Chelsea Cox (Manahawkin, N.J./Southern Regional) in her familiar spot taking the 800 and All-American Katrina Coogan (Exeter, N.H./Phillips Exeter Academy) on the anchor 1,600 meters. The foursome timed in at 11:04.79 for fourth place, just shy of BIG EAST foe Villanova (11:04.54) in third. However, it was merely a race for second place as Stanford's quartet bested the field by more than six seconds, setting a meet record of 10:54.04 and the only team to break 11 minutes.

Bobbie Burgess (West Lafayette, Ind./West Lafayette) took fourth place in the women's 5,000-meter invitational and her time of 17:23.28 was the third-best collegiate mark in the event.

The invitational field of the men's DMR saw Ryan Manahan (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus), Devante Washington (Lafayette, La./Lafayette), Billy Ledder (Washington, D.C./Gonzaga) and Ahmed Bile (Annandale, Va./Annandale) compete in their respective roles of 1,200 / 400 / 800 / 1,600 meters. In what ended up being the fastest race this track has ever seen, the foursome finished fifth overall with a time of 9:39.25 while the likes of the home team Nittany Lions set a new facility, meet and Penn State record with a time of 9:26.59.

All-American Amanda Kimbers (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh), returning for her final year of track & field on the Hilltop after she was sidelined with an injury last year, lined up for the 60-meter dash tonight. Her time of 7.65 in the second of five heats in the preliminary easily qualified her for the two-heat semifinal. Kimbers returned to the track with a time of 7.67 in the semifinals less than two hours later but it was not enough to advance the All-American to the finals as she finished 11th overall (eighth among collegiate runners) with the top eight advancing to the finals.

The Hoyas return for the second and final day of the prestigious Penn State National Invitational meet tomorrow, February 1.